Step by step guide to setting up Ubuntu 11.10 server for Newbies!

[rahvintalemon]

As a Linux/Ubuntu novice I really appreciate the detail and effort put into this guide. Your guide doesn't gloss over the "easy" parts of the install and really drills down into the details when needed. I've bookmarked this as my goto file server setup guide at least until I get on my feet with Ubuntu.

Thanks!

[wolfbuddy]

Totally agree with the post above. Thank you for taking the time to create this. You're a

[tardyviking]

Thanks. Dude I love reading tutorials that are "narrative" . Yours is very helpful and I will use it when I set up my server. Thanks. Your style is great for beginners.

[MortenSJ]

Thanks for a great tutorial. This really helped alot.

I'm trying to do the mail thing, and i went with the gmail thing and got it to work.

I have a problem when i try to initiate the script.

sudo ~/testContinuous.sh

I get this error

/home/myUserName/testContinuous.sh: line 3: mail: command not found

BUT i think the script is working just fine. I keep getting mails every 5 minuttes from the server, but they are saying this.

/bin/sh: 1: /usr/local/sbin/continuous.sh: Permission denied

I also get an error when trying to run this

sudo ~/hddtemp_monitor.sh

Error

/home/myUserName/hddtemp_monitor.sh: line 11: [: -ge: unary operator expected

I tried to google it, but i cant find anything useful.

[bvz]

Hey everybody, sorry for disappearing like that again. Looks like this thread is in danger of disappearing sometime soon. I guess the whole tips and tricks forum is going away. Makes me sad, but then there is no point in fighting something you have no control over.

I am going to try to post this document somewhere else on the web (most likely a blog) so that if it does go away here, it will still be available. I considered trying to convert it to the wiki but quickly ran out of steam trying to figure that out (which says something about my tenacity since wiki's are notoriously easy to deal with). I think I gave up quickly because I am not sure how I would interact with folks like you all who have questions.

Anyway, hopefully the whole document will still be available somewhere on the internet for those who need it. I might even, if I have time, update it to the latest version of Ubuntu Server.

Now some more disclaimers. My server is no longer running. It ran fine for quite a while, but then I got a bug up my butt to try something else and I have no money for new equipment. So, I have dismantled it and now I am trying to build a couple different "mini servers" using a raspberry pi and the original drives from this machine (I'm hoping to make something similar to the new transporter device - google "transporter cloud" for more info). Still, though, I should be able to help folks with questions.

Ok, let's dive into it...

[bvz]

This looks like a great guide especially for someone new to Ubuntu, like me. Would the steps be similar for 12.04 server or is there a similar guide out there?

I'm not sure if there are any similar guides out there for 12.04. But that said, I suspect nearly everything here would still apply to 12.04. The only part that may be easier on the new system is netatalk. I think they have a later version by default (one that works with Mountain Lion and Lion).

Outside of that I don't think you are looking at anything radically different.

Good luck.

[QIII]

You can help to maintain a wiki in the Community Wikis or create a new one if none exists.

That is where all the Tutorials & Tips have gone.

[bvz]

I cannot say how grateful I am for this guide. I'm building a computer to do this on this weekend. I am wondering, though, would the security measures in this guide be incompatible with using Apache, MySQL and PHP to host a website? After completing this process I might search for a guide on how to do that.

My pleasure.

I think the security measures I indicated here would have to be expanded so that your different services (Apache, MySQL and PHP) can get through the firewall.

I am not specifically sure what ports those services use (though I think Apache uses at least port 80). You will need to modify the firewall section to allow those ports to be open and directed to the appropriate services (which really just means adding rules to the firewall).

Let me know if this makes sense to you.

[bvz]

Hi BVZ,

Thanks for getting back to me (all those months ago) but I pushed my problems to the back of my mind and got stuck in with sorting SAMBA out.
I've just bought a UPS for my server and can't get it to send me emails, so I've returned in the hope that you can suss me out!

Like you, I only need the server to warn me when there's been an error with my RAID Array or my UPS.

Here are the results of the commands you asked for:

MSMTP seems to be installed, it doesn't list in Webmin when I search for packages, but when I try to intall it from the terminal it says that it's already at the latest version.
Running a command to send a test email results in an email being successfuly sent.

MDADM's test emails worked when I last checked them (months ago) but not anymore, now I get:


By adding --no-sharing to the end of that command it will actually send me a message; I won't pretend to know what that means, but I've put --no-sharing in the daily cron script for MDADM.
Should I also add --no-sharing to the MDADM script in the 'cron.d' folder? and does this guarantee that if bad stuff goes down with my RAID array that I'll get the appropriate alert?

Cheers!

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I *think* that what is happening is that you have mdadm running already as a daemon (i.e. it is running automatically when you start your server) and so that when you run it in test mode, it freaks out because there is already a version trying to manage your array.

The only way I think you could test that would be to somehow disable mdadm from running at startup. I forget exactly how to do that but I suspect that if I waded through my original post, the information would be in there (can't believe I am too lazy to read my own guide!

Once you have mdamd disabled and you restart your server, you *should* be able to run your mdadm test command (without the -no-sharing flag) and still get the email. Again, this is only a guess. But if that works, then you will have confirmed that the issue is as I described it above. (don't forget to re-enable mdadm when you are done).

If this is actually the case then I think the answer is that the "no-sharing" is not strictly necessary (since you normally will only have a single copy of mdadm active on your server). That said, I don't think the no-sharing flag would hurt anything.

I can't guarantee that mdadm will email you if something goes wrong because I have to admit to being only a novice at this myself. You might want to post your question elsewhere where someone with more experience might see it. I'd hate for something to go wrong and you not get notified.

Another thing to check (it's getting too late to do the research myself just now and my wife is giving me evil looks even as I type this) is whether you can get mdadm to send you a "hey, I'm still here" message from time to time. I suspect you are not the only one who sits and frets when you get no messages at all from your server. "Is it still running?" "Does no contact mean all is well, or does it mean my sentries are asleep at the gate?"

Frustrating

[bvz]

As a Linux/Ubuntu novice I really appreciate the detail and effort put into this guide. Your guide doesn't gloss over the "easy" parts of the install and really drills down into the details when needed. I've bookmarked this as my goto file server setup guide at least until I get on my feet with Ubuntu.

Thanks!

Thank you! I'm glad I could help. I get so much help from other people posting their guides on the internet it makes me glad I can give back a little.

That said, you should probably copy the guide to your local computer. This whole forum is slated to be taken down in the near future and the guide will disappear. I will try to put it back up somewhere else, but as you can see by the frequency with which I reply here that my ability to spend time on this only comes in fits and starts.